Short track bronze medalist inspired by snowboard champion
Rim Jong-un of South Korea celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the men's 1,000-meter short track speed skating event at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Thursday. Yonhap
MILAN — Soon after winning his first Olympic medal in Milan, Thursday, short track speed skater Rim Jong-un received hundreds of text messages from family and friends congratulating him on his accomplishment. The bronze medalist in the men's 1,000 meters at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics had not read any of them as of early Friday afternoon — he went to bed right after a late dinner the night before and had to come back out for a training session starting at noon the next day at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
But the 18-year-old did find some time to watch the highlights of another South Korean medalist from Thursday night: the 17-year-old halfpipe snowboard champion Choi Gaon.
Choi overcame a lower body injury sustained in a frightening fall during her first run at Livigno Snow Park in Livigno, about 140 kilometers north of Milan, and posted an impressive 92.50 points in her third and final run for South Korea's first gold medal of this year's Olympics — and also the country's first gold in a snow event.
The dramatic and emotionally-charged performance — Choi, who later said she could barely walk, was in tears even before her final score was announced — inspired Rim, even through the small screen of his phone.
"I'd heard she had some problems during her competition, but she never gave up and ended up winning the gold medal," Rim said after his training session. "Even though she is younger, it is something I can learn from her. I want to congratulate her on winning our first gold medal on snow. This was really great to see."
What Rim did Thursday night was no mean feat, either. In his first career Olympic final, Rim mounted a late rally over the final corner to go from last place in the five-man race to the bronze.
"For most of the season, I've been working on making passes on the outside, and I have a lot of confidence with it," Rim said.
When asked why he waited until the final corner to make his move, Rim said, "I think I was able to do it precisely because it was on the last corner. I trusted myself."
With the 1,000m out of the way, Rim has the 500m, 1,500m and the men's 5,000m relay coming up in Milan.
"Now that I've finished my 1,000m, I feel more comfortable now, and I will try to keep trusting myself in the 1,500m," Rim said of the event scheduled for Saturday. "I don't want to reveal too much but I will come up with something that I think will work the best."